There's been a recent push by a number of Chinese to establish grass-roots campaigns for local government, the only form of government in which representation is elected, in theory, by popular vote. This isn't the first time we've seen independents trying to run for office in China, but it does come at a particularly tense moment in China's history.
On the first of July, the Chinese Communist Party will celebrate its 90th anniversary, and it isn't going to stand for any embarrassment during the festivities. Li Chanchung, the head of the Party's propaganda machine, has in no uncertain terms told Chinese media to be on their best behavior, “singing the main theme of the goodness of the CCP, the goodness of socialism, the goodness of economic reform and opening, the goodness of our Great Mother Country.” In spite of this decree, there have been particularly damning revelations about corruption in the last few months, including the revelation that over the past twenty years, close to 18,000 officials have fled China with around 125 billion dollars embezzled from the central government, mass protests in Lichuan caused by the murder of an official who was fighting corruption,...More >>
